Amazon Music to Launch the U2 Experience

Amazon Music has announced “The U2 Experience”: a first-of-its-kind broadcast for Amazon Music designed with the voice experience in mind.

Launching simultaneously across multiple time zones on November 29 at 6 PM EST, “The U2 Experience” is a new type of radio, filled with historical and new exclusive content produced by Amazon Music and available to U2 fans who tune in from the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria, ending just before the release of the band’s upcoming album, Songs of Experience, on December 1.

Only available during its one-time broadcast and exclusively on Amazon Music, “The U2 Experience” will be available at www.amazon.com/theu2experience and on the Amazon Music mobile app and Web Player for iOS, Android, Mac, and PC. In a new way of listening, the broadcast will also be available to all Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the U.S. and UK through Alexa, on Amazon Echo devices, simply by asking, “Alexa, play The U2 Experience.”

“I hope you don’t need to know anything about U2, or anything about the context, to enjoy [Songs of Experience],” says U2 guitarist, The Edge. “I think it’s an album of just classic songs, great melodies great hooks, great lyrics. I think there’s very few bands in the history of rock and roll that have been around and made as many albums as we have with the same lineup…that perspective is unique, you know? On the last record [Songs of Innocence] we wrote about where we came from. How this band came together, Dublin of the late 70s early 80s, and this new record is the companion album. But it’s from this current perspective now... So many years later, what have we learned?”

For a limited time, fans will be able to drop into the broadcast and begin listening wherever the unique audio is currently in progress. “The U2 Experience” features a chronology of the band’s career, including commentary surrounding the significance behind iconic songs and legendary stories from the road, as told through live broadcast interviews with the band spanning nearly 40 years. Also included are some of the legendary rock group’s biggest hits, and live recordings of songs from The Joshua Tree and Songs of Experience, recorded during The Joshua Tree Tour 2017. The immersive audio show also includes a new and exclusive interview with U2 and Amazon Music’s global head of programming, Alex Luke, which took place during a stop in Sao Paolo, Brazil on tour this Fall.

“Few bands have as storied a career as U2, and we saw an incredible opportunity to build a broadcast for their fans," said Luke. "This all goes back to voice innovation, and what we've built is an immersive, ephemeral listening experience for our customers, with a wealth of interviews and content going back nearly 40 years.”

In a brand-new format for Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service, Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the U.S. and UK can simply ask, “Alexa, play The U2 Experience,” and will immediately be dropped into the broadcast, wherever the unique audio session is currently in progress. “The U2 Experience” is available to listen on the mobile app and Web Player in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria, to all customers with an Amazon Music account, with or without an Amazon Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, available only before the launch of U2’s new album, Songs of Experience, on December 1. Immediately following the show, the band’s new album, Songs of Experience, will be available to purchase on Amazon Music and stream for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.

“The U2 Experience” is the latest feature to launch within Amazon Music’s personalized natural language voice controls powered by Alexa, which has reimagined how customers experience music. When paired with Alexa, customers can ask for music by lyrics, mood, genre, era, and activities, simply by voice. Learn more about Amazon Music by visiting: www.amazon.com/music.

Start Times for “The U2 Experience”:

UK: Wednesday, 29 November 23:00

U.S.: Wednesday, 29 November 18:00 EST / 15:00 PST

Germany/Austria: Thursday, 30 November, 12:00am

From “The U2 Experience”:

Interview with Bono, 2017:

“Songs of Experience is kind of a rhyme. Your world view when you’re 17 or 18, contrasted with where you are now. I was very strict, very black and white, with the way I saw the world, whereas now I’m not. I see it in very different terms. When I was a kid – I saw the world as us and them. I think Edge was the same. But now I realize that the biggest obstacles you come up against in your life are probably not what you thought they were. It’s probably you.” - Bono

Interview with The Edge, 1987:

“‘Bullet the Blue Sky’ is a great example of why I love being in a band, as opposed to trying to be a solo artist. And it’s because, when Adam [Clayton] started playing that bass part… it is something I never, ever would have come up with in a million years. I think it is his greatest-ever bass part. He changed that piece of music, utterly, and made it what it is. The bass is of something totally different and unique.” – The Edge

Interview with Adam Clayton, 1981:

“I suspect we’ve always had this sound. We’ve always been U2. And you know, U2 is a thing that evolves constantly. And maybe a year from now, the sound will be slightly different from the sound on Boy. It’s impossible to tell because it’s a natural evolvement, all the time.”- Adam Clayton